Tagged: Turkish Politics

By Lolita C. Baldor
SANTIAGO, Chile - U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday the U.S. is making "considerable progress" in its negotiations with Turkey over the plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels in their fight against Islamic State militants.

IRBIL, Iraq — Scores of young women forced into sex slavery, hundreds of mass executions and thousands of other gross human rights violations of every imaginable kind, especially against Shia Muslims, Christians and Iraqi minority groups such as the Yazidis .

ANKARA, Turkey -- Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by the Islamic State group in Iraq were freed Saturday, resolving a serious crisis which Turkish officials had long cited as a reason to avoid moving aggressively against the violent militant group.

NEWPORT — NATO leaders will back plans Friday for positioning more troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe, establishing a rapid response force aimed at easing anxiety among member states near Russia's border and deterring the Kremlin against replicating its provocations in Ukraine elsewhere in the region.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turks voted Sunday in their first direct presidential election, a watershed event in the country's 91-year history that could cement Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's position as Turkey's all-powerful leader.

By Desmond Butler And Suzan Fraser
SAVASTEPE, Turkey — Government and company officials denied Friday that negligence caused Turkey's worst mining disaster, as opposition lawmakers raised questions about oversight and a survivor said safety inspectors never visited the lower reaches of the mine.

By Suzan Fraser
ANKARA, Turkey — A video showing an aide to Turkey's prime minister kicking a protester held on the ground by special forces police sparked outrage Thursday, tarnishing the Turkish leader's image ahead of his expected run for president.

Turkey blocked access to Twitter on Friday after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to "rip out the roots" of the social network where links have proliferated to recordings that appear to incriminate him and other top officials in corruption.